The Co-op has agreed to sell its 129-strong petrol forecourt business to Asda in a deal worth £600million.
The Co-op said the sale of the sites, which represent 5% of its retail estate, would enable it to expand its network of grocery stores and also help it balance the books.
A Co-op spokesman said: “We will look to use the money to invest in Co-op price and store operations. We are not immune from price pressures.”
Forecourts being sold in the north and north-east are those in Kirkwall, Broadford on Skye and Stonehaven.
Asda said the purchase was part of plans to move into smaller, convenience grocery stores.
About 2,300 Co-op petrol station staff will be moved to Asda's employment.
As part of the deal, Asda will pay £438milliion in cash and take on responsibility for Co-op's lease payments which total about £162m.
The precise figure will be confirmed when the sale is completed later this year.
"This transaction is in line with our strategy to move away from operating petrol forecourts and supports our vision of 'Co-operating for a fairer world', while building our core leading convenience business," said Shirine Khoury-Haq, chief executive at the Co-op.
Mohsin Issa, co-owner of Asda, said the supermarket saw convenience stores as a "significant growth opportunity for the business".
Competition concerns
However, fuel campaigners and motoring groups say they are concerned about the deal.
Howard Cox, of the FairFuelUK campaign group said that “with less and less competition as more branded fuel suppliers merge, I can only see petrol and diesel prices persisting at needless rip-off highs.
“Drivers once routinely relied on supermarkets to fill up with the UK’s lowest possible pump prices. Regrettably, that’s history, as the Big Four plus other supermarkets’ pump prices atypically can now be dearer than at small independents.”
The AA also praised independents for “driving down prices” after the fall in wholesale costs. “The supermarkets have not exactly covered themselves in glory,” Luke Bosdet, the motoring group’s fuel price spokesman, said.
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